MIYERKULES TI KURKUROS

I decided to wake up early today and attend a mass at Baguio Cathedral. As most of us, especially Roman Catholics know that today marks the start of Lenten Season - 40 days and 6 Sundays leading to Easter (Resurrection) Sunday. One of the indicators that it is Lent is when you see people having ash marks of cross in their foreheads. 

By the way, I am not a Roman Catholic but as I realize the beauty of some (though I don't agree in everything they do) of the "symbolisms" that they use and practice, I start to appreciate them especially that one of my spiritual temperament is "traditionalist" this classification is for people who connects to God the most in symbols, liturgy, and sacraments. It is important to acknowledge that not everyone have this particular spiritual temperament (some are contemplative,enthusiast,naturalist,activists,caregiver, ascetic, sensate and intellectual).To discover your spiritual temperament, click this link (http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Features/Magazine/2011/nine-spiritual-temperaments.aspx).

Why use ashes on Ash Wednesday? Ashes is an outward sign/symbolism of our sorrow,human morality and repentance for sins. It is a reminder that "...for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:9 NIV). These ashes are traditionally from the burned palm leaves from last year's Palm Sunday celebration. Let us remember that this practice is no magical, this is done for the purpose of symbolism.

As the priest placed his thumb to place an ash mark of cross on my forehead, I started to reflect on the  fact that we have a Creator, who created us from dust, breathed in us His Holy Spirit of life, and loved us even to the point that he gave His Son, Jesus for us. In our brokenness, He chose to take our brokenness for us to be made whole. How beautiful reading the writings of Apostle Paul when he said “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” (Galatians 3:13). 

Today, Ash Wednesday is celebrated in masses and services by churches. Whether it is letting the ministers put ash marks of cross in their foreheads or in other churches, they prefer it in their palms. Still, with or without ash mark of crosses, more than this "physical" symbols, let us see the "spiritual" relevance of this practice.

Lent is all about Jesus who became one of us and include us in His life,death and resurrection. He did all of these because of His unconditional love for all humanity. Hallelujah! 

This Lenten Season, let us take this opportunity to pause, reflect, pray, devote, retreat, rest and fast as we commemorate the beauty of this Life that we have in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

"Miyerkules Ti Kurkuros" - is the Ilocano translation for Ash Wednesday.

RHYTHMS OF GRACE

During this cold, 11 degrees celsius, evening that I decided to rename my blogsite with "Rhythms of Grace". I just got strucked with The Message bible translation of Eugene H. Peterson of Matthew 11:28-30. Oh, I just can hear Jesus words speaking to me...

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (The Message - emphasis mine)

How beautiful those words are! Penetrates to the deepest of my spirit...I just need this right now!

May may life continue to make melodies,harmonies,songs, hymns and music of unforced rhythms of grace...as I continue to journey with Abba, Jesus and Holy Spirit. Walking step-by-step. Remaining in His love. Enjoying the Present Moment. Being led. Eyes opened to see more. Lifting my hands to the heavens. Being the hands and feet of Jesus. Doing everything in love...

H E A D - what I am thinking right now.

Job-searching.

H E A R T - what I feel.

I'm feeling' moody.

H A N D S - what I find doing.

Working and doing the things that a teacher does.

Hey! Live the abundant life we have in Jesus!!! 

SAPSAPU

2015 has been another year of abundant blessings for me and my family. Everything that I prayed for, desired and believed was fulfilled.With this, I want to post my very first blog for 2016 by counting the blessings that I have received the past year. May this be a form of thanksgiving for God's faithfulness and goodness:

• Graduated from my degree. 
• Awarded as the "Pre school Best Student Teacher of the Year"
• Graduated as  Cum Laude.
• Participated in the ministry events of Odyssey in Christ.
• Passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET).
• Attended various events in our church including our annual Worship Festival. 
• Enjoyed some of the christian concerts that I attended with my mom and dad (Planetshakers and Hillsong Worship).
• Learned how to drive! 
• Traveled to a lot of beautiful places - will post a separate blog for this soon.
• And to receive the best and memorable gift for my 21st birthday.**I am sharing it with you below**

These are just some of the highlights of my 2015. Bullets are not enough to enumerate them all, but these are just the highlights. Well, you can borrow my journal and read through the pages for a moredetailed, day-to-day record of God's blessings! hehe.

What about you...have you taken some time to "count your blessings and name them one by one...count your many blessings and see what God has done..."? If you haven't done it yet, it's not yet too late to take this very moment to just remember, reflect and, take a rewind of the things that God has blessed you with last year. Close your eyes and don't forget to end it with a simple prayer of thanksgiving! Let us start the year with thanksgiving in our hearts!!!

You might be wondering with the title of this blog - "SAPSAPU". Actually this has something to do with the best and memorable gift that I've received for my 21st birthday. It's not a treat, a gadget, not even a money...nahhhh! It is about a special prayer of blessing (with the laying of hands) of my lola Saling. Early in the morning of my birthday, since we were in Tarlac that time, my lola(grandmother) greeted me a happy birthday but immediately I felt like asking her to speak blessings on me. Immediately, she held my hands and started to bless me using our dialect(ilocano). She blessed me with good health and for all of my success in life especially in finding a job.

Still, I have not mentioned about the title - "SAPSAPU"! hehe! Here it is, last Christmas we went to visit lola again in Victoria, Tarlac. This time, I presented to apply "SAPSAPU" (it is an ilocano term for "massaging oil") and massage lola Saling as an act of me saying "thank you" to her for blessing me on my birthday. Now, as long as I have the opportunity to apply "SAPSAPU" and give lola a massage, I will.

I am reminded of the story in Mark 14:1-11 where a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard, broke the jar and started to anoint Jesus. This is a beautiful picture of service and offering someone with such adoration and high appreciation.

What do you think can you do to show your deep love and high appreciation for someone this year?

Have a year with a heightened sense of God's presence and fullness in our journey this 2016!!!

WHOA!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -Philippians 4:6

I just wanna share a brief testimony of God's goodness. So here it is...(be ready to say "whoaaa!" with me)

Honestly, It's been almost three months of waiting for the result of the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) that I took last September 27,2015. Most of the time, I pray. I unceasingly pray to God: "Lord, You know the desires of my heart...I wanna pass the LET." Whenever I wake up,before I sleep...in the middle of the day or night,every minute, every second...even as I wash the dishes or whatever I do, I offer a prayer - spoken and unspoken. I am a worrier...impatient. anxious. I get so stressed with a lot of "ifs" and thoughts of "How if I fail the board exam?". That is my weakness.But I know that my God is very personal that He even lives inside of me, He knows our everything! And He loves to be with us in times of doubt,fear and disbelief. How awesome it is that God,despite of my lack of trust in Him...remains to be gracious,loving,faithful and so on.Whoa!

He has given me a lot of encouragements and affirmations to always remind me to wait and TO HOLD ON TO HIM. He has used people,scripture, signages/posters and even songs to minister/speak to me. God is indeed moving!!

As the day of releasing the results drew closer, my heart literally beats faster and faster to the point that whenever the fan page of PRC posts something, I feel like having a minor heart attack! Hahaha! It was actually postponed many times. So, I got bored...but yesterday, Instead of being worried (to the maximum level),I decided to attend Jesus Reigns Celebration (a simultaneous worship gathering of 82 provinces here in the Philippines) in Melvin Jones grounds. I never expected to meet my high school friend Narie there. As the worship went by, leading to the holy communion...My phone vibrated with messages of "congratulations", "you passed" and other greetings! I don't know how to express my feelings that time. I was literally speechless!! But I immediately called my mom to verify my name in the website (since I have no internet connection) and tadaaaaah! My name was really there! Whew!

Since, at that moment...we are about to partake of the holy communion, I set aside my phone...Enjoying the "present moment" to just remember and thank my Savior and Lord for His great blessing. What a memorable time to be at His Table. Whoooooa.

My mom called and resquested me to come home right away to celebrate my success with my family. I bought ice cream and they ordered pizza. (*insert the adrenaline rush of looking for a cab here*) When I got home, we lifted our unending thanksgivingin prayer. Hallelu Yah!!

I ended the day last night by lighting a candle in my room and just offering a silent thanksgiving and adoration to Abba,Jesus and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Thanks to my family,my prayer partners,encouragers and those who sent some greetings! Blessings to you all as well! - you are all my inspiration!

H E A D - what I am thinking right now.

Birthday. Oathtaking. Testimonial Dinner. Holiday trips. Christmas parties. Starbucks cheer party. Christmas bazzars. Advent. Job hunting/work opportunities.

H E A R T - what I feel.

I'm feelin' happy. thankful. amazed. I AM FEELING THE MOMENT!

H A N D S - what I find doing. 

I am starting to finish this Christmas Party program for our church this year. I so love doing this!

JUSTINE PAOLO G, PARCASIO
Professional Teacher

To God be all the praise,honor and glory! Amen!

EAGLE

"Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV

This verse just started to minister to me tonight...and yes, we get tired and worn-out of things every now and then. May that be physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. But what is good about this verse is that it doesn't stop there...it continues with "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength..." (v. 31a). How assuring and comforting it is that no matter how much heavy our baggage that we carry, we can put our full hope in the LORD...who, Himself can feel what we can feel and even knows exactly how heavy and hard the problems,trials and issues that we have. As Jesus, who is both God and Man, came to be here with us and be like us in our "humanity" even to the point of death on the old-rugged cross.He carried our EVERYTHING - pains, problems, issues, brokenness, sin, infirmities, sickness, evil, hurts, flesh...our everything.

Like a mighty eagle, spread your wings...fly higher...being assured that it is the strength of Jesus that we hold on to...

 H E A D - what I am thinking right now.

I am anxious about things (and I must confess, I am a worrier but I believe that God is helping me with this)...one of the things that bothers me is the result of my Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). It is expected to be released in November 27,2015...Oh! how hard it is to W A I T in confidence!!!! As I always say...I will wait in expectancy!

H E A R T - what I feel.

I'm feelin' sad...(sadness that can be rooted with being) guilty of the things that I am expected be doing but I fail to do.

H A N D S - what I find doing.

 I just want to have a cup of hot venti-sized hibiscus tea at Starbucks and just be alone with my bible and journal. And maybe answer the questionnaire that I need to accomplish ASAP. I am planning to do these tomorrow.

HEAD. HEART. HANDS.

Hey! How are you guys?

I have a lot of things in my THOUGHTS,things that I FEEL, and things that I wanna DO as of this very moment that are needed to be expressed thru writing.

By the way, I am changing my manner of writing...I came with these three basic themes:

• HEAD - what I am thinking.
• HEART - what I feel.
• HANDS - what I find doing. 

...you will definitely see these themes always.

Aside from that, I find it helpful to express myself using the languages that I could understand and speak - english,filipino and ilocano. Don't worry...I will be translating some for those who can't understand filipino and ilocano.

I am not really a writer. I'm not good in grammar. I'm bad in vocabulary. BUT, I am trying....

bare with me...
teach me...
journey with me...

Thank you!

NEW THING

Finally! After 2 months of not blogging...I decided to share something with you in writing, things that I've been doing months after my graduation. Actually I've been busy doing things here at home (and I'm really enjoying it). I have decided not to teach yet or look for a job but instead, focus on reviewing for the Licensure Examination for Teachers this coming September 27,2015. And also participate in the workshops of Transforming Prayer and Spiritual Direction facilitated by Dr. Rey Taniajura, the representative of Odyssey in Christ here in the Philippines.

Since most of the time, I am here at home, I have all the time to clean,cook,laundry and do the things that I want to do. In fact, I tried something new, I found an old set of watercolor paint and couple of paint brushes. And tadaaaaaaaah...the artistic side of me was activated! Imagine,I painted 11 simple paintings?! (Haha!) here is one of my favorite paintings:

I am very thankful to my mama and papa for allowing me to attend 2 christian concerts, Hillsong Worship live in MOA Arena last April and Planetshakers live in Areneta Coliseum 2 weeks ago (my sister Jana wasn't able join us because of her classes). I will never forget this because they even filed a leave just to travel and attend the worship concerts with me. I am forever grateful for their love for me and providing, not only the things that I need but sometimes, also the things that I want. I love you FOREVER!

There are still a lot of activities that are yet to come...

Everybody's excited for the annual GCI Worship Festival 2015 of our church happening on September 23-27, Teacher's Camp, Baguio City with the theme: "Celebrating Kingdom Life Now!". Preparations are in full swing,for our local church,we have started to practice as a music team because will be leading the opening night service and we will be performing in the Unified 2 concert! Yay!

Here are some of the activities that I am looking forward to:

-OIC Deeper Walk and Spiritual Direction in Leadership Seminar (September 15-17 in CDC,Tagaytay City)

-OIC Experiencing The Trinity Retreat (September 19-22 in Ating Tahanan,GSP,Baguio City)

-Bethel Music Live in Manila Concert (October 17 in Araneta Coliseum,Manila)

PS.May I ask you all to pray for me as I continue to review and prepare myself for the LET this September. Shalom!